First time for everything
by EllieBear75
Summary: Logan decorates a Christmas tree with the Mars family, for the first time. Post-MKAT, canon fluff for the holidays! Originally submitted for the AO3 Veronica Mars Fandom Family Christmas Collection 2016 as a gift to @Heavnli24.


"Dad. Listen to me. Use. The. Lights," Veronica implored, shaking the box of brand new LED Christmas lights at him.

Keith sat in his comfy brown leather chair, a tangled ball of glass bulb lights in his lap. Frowning at his task to unravel them for another year, he swore under his breath.

"And I said, these lights are fine! We've used them every year since you were a baby. And they are as good today as they were when I first bought them."

Veronica glanced over at Logan, who was sitting on the couch just a few feet away, her eyes pleading at him for help. Her boyfriend just shrugged and continued his inspection of the ornaments in the box on his lap, trying to keep a low profile in the father-daughter disagreement.

"Dad, your old lights will burn down the house. These ones don't come apart, so no one can get electrocuted. And they're plastic so if Pony bites one, she won't get a mouth full of glass," she argued, gesturing to the sleeping dog next to Logan. "Just, please, accept this gift of new lights without a fight. I'm begging you…don't be a Grinch."

Keith's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open, an exaggerated gasp fell from his lips.

"Grinch? Me? Well, that's just low, Veronica. A low blow indeed."

Veronica gave a little snort-laugh and rolled her eyes. Tearing open the box of lights in her hand, she began pulling out the packaging containing the small, white lights.

"How about this…we'll have a race. Whoever gets their string of lights untangled and on the tree first, wins," Veronica suggested, her voice happy, yet mocking.

Keith sighed. "Can't you leave an old man some traditions?"

Veronica shook her head and smiled. "Nope. First time for everything, Dad. First time Logan has been here, with us, for Christmas. First time we use energy efficient, won't-burn-down-the-house lights."

Glancing back at Logan, she noticed he had started laying out the ornaments from the box, in perfect lines on the coffee table. They were arranged according to colour, with the largest on the left, and descending in size to smallest on the right. Biting her lip, she shook her head slightly and sighed quietly.

Military Logan was still a bit of a mystery to Veronica, and these little quirks of precision never failed to amuse her. Of the three years they had been living together, this was the longest stretch they had been actually 'together' without a tour interrupting their togetherness. The decision had been made that he would leave at the end of his contract, in four months, and every time he went out on a training exercise, Veronica secretly prayed to numerous Gods that he survived long enough to see that retirement.

"So, how do we do this?" Logan asked seriously, examining his array of ornaments.

Veronica frowned. "How do we do what?"

Logan gestured his hand towards the tree. "This. The tree decorating. I know the lights go on first, but are we just doing one colour of ornament? Or type? And should they be two inches or three inches apart? Or more?"

Veronica glanced back at her Dad, who shared her confused look for a moment.

"Wait a minute – are you telling me you've never decorated a tree before?" Veronica asked incredulously.

Logan shrugged, looking down at the ornaments to avoid eye contact. "Nope. This is my first time."

"Your Mom set up a minimum of twenty-five different trees around your house," Veronica pointed out, "and you never decorated any of them?"

"Pffttt. No. Very expensive designers decorated our trees. I just stayed out of the way," Logan chuckled, making eye contact for a second with Veronica.

Keith moved his ball of lights onto the side table and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. "Not even as a child? When you lived in L.A.?"

Logan cast his eyes momentarily at Keith and then down at Pony, who was sleeping next to him. "No sir. Still professionals."

Veronica refused to believe this story. She could not fathom that a grown man had never decorated a Christmas tree at some point in his life.

"What about those ornaments that we were all forced to make in elementary school?" Veronica interrogated her boyfriend. "Didn't you bring those home and hang them somewhere?"

Logan began scratching the top of Pony's head, keeping his focus off of Veronica. "Yeah. I made them. Gave them to my Mom, but she never hung them up. If she didn't trash them, then whatever Louboutin shoe box they were in, was destroyed when the house burnt down."

Veronica's stomach turned. Over their years together, Logan opened up to her about the extent of the physical abuse he suffered at Aaron's hands. But the emotional abuse, perpetrated by both his parents, stayed locked away, only showing itself in little passing glimpses. Each time it did, the thought made Veronica physically ill.

For a moment, the Mars family was at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry, son," Keith remarked quietly. "It doesn't sound like you had many happy Christmases. Maybe we can help make up for it now."

Logan glanced up from Pony. His eyes met Keith's and he nodded his understanding, but stayed mute.

Veronica bit her lip, thinking back to all the Christmases at the Echolls estate, before Lilly was murdered, then after. The décor. The food. The carolers. The stabbing….

"Wait a minute!" she declared, raising a finger. "You did decorate a Christmas tree! With Lilly!"

Logan stopped petting Pony and shifted his attention back to Veronica. He arched a confused eyebrow at her.

"What? I don't remember that. When?" Logan questioned.

Veronica put down the lights and came to sit beside him on the couch, a big smile on her face.

"I don't know. We were fourteen…maybe fifteen. I invited Lilly over here to decorate and she said she couldn't because she was going over to your place to help you decorate instead."

Logan stretched his arms across the back of the couch and frowned at Veronica. "Lilly said that? Really? Because I don't remember this at all."

Veronica nodded, pressing her hand to his chest, her excitement rising. "I do! I remember distinctly – she said she couldn't come over because she had to go to your place to trim your tree."

There was a silent beat as Veronica realized what she said. Logan closed his eyes and covered them with his hand.

"Um…Veronica…" Keith began.

Logan's head fell back against the wall, in agony. "Really, Veronica?"

Veronica felt her face flush as she glanced quickly back and forth between her Dad and Logan. "Oh god! I really did think she meant decorating! Seriously! All these years, I imagined you guys having hot chocolate and hanging ornaments and…"

Keith leaned forward and patted Veronica's knee reassuringly. "It warms my heart to know you were once innocent enough to think that's all they were doing."

Logan let out a deep breath and uncovered his eyes, letting out a soft chuckle. Shifting closer to Veronica, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed the side of her head. "Me too. I also adore that sweet, naïve Veronica is still hanging out, somewhere inside you."

"I'm glad you guys liked that story." Veronica let out a huff and put her head on Logan's shoulder. "Now if you don't mind, I'll just crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head, and go to sleep until the new year."

"Okay. How about this embarrassing Christmas story instead." Logan began, leaning back on the couch and folding his arms across his chest. "Dick and I were drinking one Christmas Eve and we decided to steal a ficus tree from the lobby of the Grand and decorate it with a colourful assortment of empty mini booze bottles. So we dragged one up to our suite, wound dental floss around the necks of the bottles, and hung them from the plant." Logan laughed a little at the memory. "Does that count as decorating a Christmas tree? It was kind of pretty, when the light hit it right."

Veronica shook her head. "No. Not quite. But good effort," she stated, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.

Keith pushed himself out of his chair with a groan. "Well, I think I need some more coffee before we tackle this tree. Logan? You want a refill?"

Logan smiled and handed over his cup. "Please. And thanks."

"What about you, Veronica?" Keith asked.

Veronica tilted her head and threw her dad her best puppy-dog eyes. "You know, the mention of hot chocolate kind of has me wanting –"

Keith sighed. "Alright. I'll make you hot chocolate. But in the meantime, you guys start stringing those fancy new lights of yours on the tree. Okay?"

Veronica grinned and clapped her hands in excitement. "Okay Dad! You're the best! Little marshmallows too, if you have them."

Rolling his eyes at his daughter's requests, Keith retreated to the kitchen, leaving the couple on the couch together.

"Well, I think your Dad learned a little too much about me today," Logan sighed. "I shouldn't have mentioned the ficus."

Veronica wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. "Oh, come on. Look on the bright side…he called you 'son'."

Logan slipped his arms around Veronica and kissed her head. "Yeah. Out of pity for my pathetic childhood."

Veronica closed her eyes, exhaling slowly. After all these years, she knew that Logan still felt that her Dad blamed him for her decision to leave New York. No matter how many times Veronica told him she loved him, no matter how warmly Keith welcomed him into his home, Logan was never comfortable with his position in the Mars family dynamic. She hoped this would be the year his feelings changed.

Logan's hand gently fell on Veronica's stomach and Veronica let out a soft hum of contentment. He began rubbing his thumb back and forth over the soft billowing fabric of her red embroidered top.

"I think we should postpone telling him our news," Logan whispered, glancing towards the kitchen.

"Until when? The baby drops right out of me?" Veronica teased him quietly. "I'm four months along. It's time!"

"Look," Logan said, her humour lost on him. "We both just confirmed what he probably suspected all along - that I'm an oversexed alcoholic who has issues with his parents. I don't think he will take too kindly to me knocking up his precious daughter. Or actually taking care of his grandchild, for that matter."

"Pfft. That's nothing. Just wait until I tell him I've turned down your numerous marriage proposals," she pointed out. "That should really set him off."

Logan gestured towards invisible Keith on the other side of the wall. "That man may, in fact, take me outside and shoot me."

"You're delusional. I'm not the farmer's teenage daughter and you're not some encyclopedia sales man who knocked me up while passing through town," Veronica shook her head and laughed. "Now help me string these lights, before the old man puts the not-baby-friendly, glass-tubes-of-death on the tree."

Logan gave a little snort of a laugh and stood up, offering his hand to Veronica. She took a second to let her eyes trace down his form, over the crisp blue button-down shirt, down the fabric that stretched around his biceps, lingering for a second at the belt buckle of his beige khakis.

A naughty grin twitching on her lips, Veronica grasped his hand firmly and he pulled her to her feet. Stopping inches from him, she stood on her tiptoes to brush a soft kiss across his lips. Then, with a wink and a smile, Veronica walked back around the coffee table towards the lights, a subtle swing in her widening hips as she moved.

Logan gave a low cat-call whistle. With a small shake of his head and a smile, he wandered over to join her in stringing the lights.

An hour later, the decorating crew stood back to enjoy the twinkling beauty of their Christmas tree. The delicate white LED lights were surrounded by a mishmash of glass, plastic, and hand-made ornaments covering almost every branch of the fake fir tree.

"I think we really outdid ourselves this year, Dad," Veronica said, patting Keith on the shoulder.

"I've seen some pretty trees in my time," commented Logan, his hands on his hips, marveling at the sight. "But this is by far the prettiest."

Moving over to the side of the couch, Veronica picked her bulky purse up off the floor and fished around inside of it. Extracting a small white box with a big red ribbon around it, she glanced knowingly at Logan before returning to Keith.

"You know Dad, it is amazing. But I think there is a bare branch in need of just one more ornament," Veronica confided, presenting the box to her father on the palm of her hand.

Keith arched an eyebrow suspiciously, and looked down at the present. Carefully, he pulled open the bow, lifted the lid, and rooted around in the tissue paper. Pulling out his treasure, Keith examined the small pewter frame ornament, hung on a golden thread, and engraved with the words _First Grandchild_. Behind the glass was a fuzzy black and white ultrasound photo.

Keith's head swung between looking at Veronica to Logan and back, his jaw dropped open in shock.

Gazing back at Veronica, Keith's eyes became glassy. "A baby?" he whispered hopefully.

"Yeah. A baby," Veronica replied, her own emotions starting to weigh heavy in her chest.

Taking the frame gently, her finger ran over the image. "The top blob is its head. This is its body. This end is its toes. Even though it all just looks like a big lima bean right now."

Keith nodded silently, taking in all the information. "When?" he asked, bringing the picture to his face to take a closer look at the floating bean shape.

"June. I just passed my first trimester," Veronica explained, her voice beginning to crack.

Keith's eyes met Veronica's, his face serious. "I didn't know you were trying – "

"We weren't." Veronica gave a small laugh, her hand dropping lightly to her stomach, smoothing down her blouse so her little baby belly showed through. "But that doesn't mean we aren't happy."

Keith pursed his lips and glanced towards Logan. Veronica's attention turned to her boyfriend as well. Logan was standing at military ease, feet slightly apart, hands behind his back, spine straight as a board, trying not to look terrified.

"You guys going to get married?" Keith's lip curled into a bit of a smirk.

"I ask her on a daily basis, sir. Got her a big expensive ring too. But she keeps turning me down," Logan explained, his eyes showing a passing streak of fear.

Keith chuckled. "Of course she does. Why do things the usual way, when you can do them the Veronica way?"

Veronica frowned at her Dad and Logan let out a small cough laugh.

"Are you scared, son?" Keith questioned Logan gently.

"More scared than going into combat, sir," Logan admitted, the muscles in his jaw twitching at the thought.

Keith let out a hearty laugh. "Good! You're supposed to be. Fear of screwing up is one of the key points to being a successful parent."

Turning his attention back to Veronica, he smiled lovingly at his daughter. "And if you have a little girl, be sure to buy a large hamster ball for her to live in. 'Trouble' is in the Mars' family DNA."

Veronica bit her lip. "So you're happy?"

"No sweetheart, I'm not happy." Keith reached out and placed his hand on his daughter's cheek for a moment. "I'm ecstatic."

Veronica couldn't hold back her emotions anymore, and her tears ran down her face. "Merry Christmas, Daddy."

A wide grin overtook Keith's face and he wrapped his arms around his daughter, the frame dangling in his grasp. "Merry Christmas, Veronica."

 _ **End Notes**_

 _ **Thanks to Irma66 for being my Beta for this one shot.**_


End file.
